Social Management in Organizations and its Contribution to Human Collectives

The book La gestión social en las organizaciones y su aporte a los colectivos humanos: una perspectiva desde estudios de caso comparados addresses the environments of certain organizations and their relationship with the individuals that make them up, their contributions to society, and the construction of processes and projects with the communities surrounding such organizations.

The research behind this book focuses on case studies aiming at characterizing social management processes in Colombian organizations, identifying categories on which transformations have been made, proposing broad lines for their strengthening in relation to responsibility to the human being and his environment, and identifying development and management trends as new benchmarks in the field of business administration. The constant realization and integration between theory and practice, through a historical-hermeneutic-comparative method, represents a valuable search in understanding collective human experiences within specific and historical contexts, both spatially and temporally. Exploring the dynamics and dialectics of social management expressed at different levels and in various dimensions, in several actor organizations belonging to four economic sectors—sensitive to the life of a country—, allows the reader to extrapolate findings and comprehend and analyze approaches to the possibilities and limitations of social development.

It is also relevant to understand whether the human collectives upon which organizations act have undergone changes for the benefit of their members or not, and answer the questions: How and why have these changes occurred? What incentives or what role have human beings, individually and collectively, played as creators, promoters and recipients of changes? What kinds of benefits have been achieved historically inside and outside solidarity organizations? It is about identifying the categories in which these transformations have been brought about in Latin American countries from the conception of social management in organizations and its contribution to human collectives and recognizing trends in their development and management processes from the perspective of complex thinking. The objectives concentrate on:

Pointing out the history and philosophical foundations of organizations in the development of social management.

Identifying the cultural and social parameters of organizations when dealing with social management processes.

Looking into the philosophical parameters that have influenced decision-making in organizations to assume social benefit based on complex thinking.

Exploring trends and perspectives of organizations in approaching social management, social welfare and development, and the new complexity models.

Research into social management in organizations is novel insofar as it allowed to establish how social management processes have been received and implemented, which of them have helped to obtain well-being for the individuals and human collectives for which they are responsible, what advances are linked only to demands, and from which philosophical and cultural postulates such social management models or procedures have been adopted. Moreover, it was interesting to learn the standpoint of policies that have served as guidelines in decision-making to achieve quality of life and social development conditions in the human groups that are part of organizations, as well as for the people comprising their social environment.

Concerning the latest trends in the field of business administration, we identified the local-global relationship, which gives rise to new interactions; multidimensional and multilateral relations as an essential part of the organizations’ actions; the construction of social solutions for the human collectives that are their immediate reference; and the shaping of the organizations’ strategic vision involving their responsibility for and commitment to communities in the long term.

Changes in organizations are caused primarily by globalization, the new models of the world, the constant changes in ICT, the construction of a digital world, the encounter of other cultures and their mutual referencing.

Today organizations have understood that human talent is their main treasure and, therefore, should improve welfare; this is a point of acute contradictions because it means progressing in the quality of working life in circumstances that sometimes are not favorable. It is essential for organizations to understand their relationships with the human collectives surrounding them because they have many aspects in common such as the social environment, customs and traditions.

Human understanding not only involves grasping the complexity of the being, but also knowing the conditions that trigger thought, decisions and actions. Thus, understanding the social subject cannot be achieved outside the context, a context that identifies us and differentiates us; a context that unites us but at the same time makes us interdependent in terms of ambiguity and complexity because social facts do not have a single, but multiple determinants regarding their historical nature and their practical-emancipatory projection; even so, it is at the same time a context marked by conventions, which have intended to unify truths, homogenize moral ideas, and standardize lifestyles.

Holds a Ph.D. in historical research from the Universidad Nacional de Educación (UNED) in Madrid, Spain. She has been an advisor and consultant for social projects related to social management and complexity, human talent management, organizational management, human management and development, and social and complexity research processes. Her books and scientific articles include Tendencias doctrinales de las organizaciones, written with the other author of this book.

Holds a master’s degree in accounting and management audit and My Coop Trainer of Trainers recognized by the International Labor Organization. Researcher of the Business Administration program and professor of the master’s degree in organization management at the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. She is also a management consultant and facilitator for the Centro de Formación Empresarial, Fundación Mario Santo Domingo, Acción Internacional and the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce.